In between visiting the giant lantern makers of San Fernando City, we also went to numerous restaurants where we lunched, snacked, and snacked some more. And yes, we do have an excuse for our food binge—Pampanga’s title of being the Culinary Capital of the Philippines. We’re uncovering the province’s little gems, one plate (or two) at a time.

SUSIE’S CUISINE’S AIRCONDITIONED INTERIORS

One of the interesting places we visited was Susie’s Cuisine in San Fernando. Located at an air-conditioned building along MacArthur highway, you wouldn’t really think much of it. At first glance, it looks like any ordinary restaurant, that is until servings of their famous pancit luglug and tibok-tibok were plunked right in front of us.

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Twilight was almost upon us as we alighted from our van for the last stop of our tour. The day has been filled with the Giant Lanterns of Pampanga interspersed with Kapampangan dishes generously spread in between. We thought we’ve seen and tasted everything until we visited San Fernando City’s The Souq.

Translated from Arabic, the word souq means marketplace. And from the central alley that traverses the restaurant, the name suits the place quite well. The concept, our host said, was to incorporate various mini-restaurants along both sides of the alleyway.

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On an open plaza somewhere in San Fernando City, a twenty-foot freestanding structure mysteriously covered by a tarpaulin stands at the center of the square. It was almost Christmas time, and like a giant gift, a massive Christmas lantern, one of Pampanga’s famous giant parols, was slowly being unwrapped right before our eyes.

I have never attended Pampanga’s famous Ligligan Parul Festival where barangays from all over San Fernando City proudly showcase their giant lanterns, but I do have a somewhat hazy memory of seeing them when I was a kid at the now defunct Paskuhan Village.

Now, decades later, I’m back at Pampanga to witness how these giants are made.

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A huge plate filled with pasta, spring rolls, veggies, and salad was laid down on our star-spangled table. Everything looked familiar, but not quite. Before our host left, I quickly asked her for the name of the dish. She turned back, smiled and said, I usually serve this at home and I haven’t even thought about giving it a name just yet.

It was our first stop for Pampanga’s giant lantern tour and we were at Nona’s Kitchen. Well, we really won’t get to see the lanterns at their grandest and brightest since it was still a week before they were to be unveiled, but what we were here for was to see how Pampanga’s Giant Lanterns are made.

And yeah, we’re here to eat. A tour of San Fernando City wouldn’t be complete without a culinary adventure.

The heat was searing as I tried to conquer the simple looking Aerial Walk Challenge at the newly opened Sandbox at Alviera in Porac. It looked easy, but once I set foot on its obstacles, sweat started to pour from my body like there was no tomorrow.

ALVIERA SANDBOX IN PORAC

Sandbox at Alviera is the newest outdoor adventure park to hit the province of Pampanga.

Like its name suggests, it is a playground of sorts, but with a twist—the games here are really not all for kiddos. Dotting its thousand or so hectares are two sets of giant swings, a rappelling, climbing and free fall tower, an aerial walk complex, a roller coaster zipline, a pump-track for bikes, and an ATV station for a longer rides outside the complex.

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The Smashing Pumpkins rumbled through the chorus of Today on my iPod as I climbed the final steps towards the viewing deck of Mount Pinatubo. I was panting a bit, not really used to hiking for hours. I stepped towards the chasm and looked out upon the crater that has caused so much trouble to people of Central Luzon. I suppressed a gasp.

Everyone knows what a cliché it is to have a view take one’s breath away. But you won’t care about that once your eyes lay upon Mount Pinatubo’s emerald crater.

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I was overwhelmed with joy when I learned that Guagua’s Betis Church is included in Culture Shock PH’s Pampanga Culinary tour. The Sistine Chapel of the Philippines it is dubbed. The Baroque-inspired Betis Church is one of the 26 elite churches in the country that has been declared as National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum and the NCCA.

The group has visited another church in Pampanga, the half-buried Bacolor Church, just a few hours before we disembarked at Barangay San Nicolas in the town of Guagua. The sun was almost setting behind the faded pink façade of the church as we gazed upon its peeling exterior.

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I once was fascinated by furniture design. During my stint as an Architecture student in UST, I used to design furnishings that go along with the houses I draw, believing that both the structure and its content should speak a single holistic language.

And during my still brief course as a traveler, I’ve seen all sorts of architectural gems around the country. But it has only been during my Pampanga tour with the Culture Shock PH crew that I was able to visit something related to furniture design—Pampanga’s Betis Crafts Inc.

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